United States
Hong KongFree versus paid preparation
Free material for this test is better than for most, because the syllabus is part of Rule 6A-4.0021 and published in full. Paid material buys three things the free documents can't give you: blueprint weighting, a clock, and a score that tells you whether you're ready.
Start from the awkward end. If you're disciplined and your Mathematics is intact, you can pass this test on free material, and we'd rather say so than pretend otherwise.
What free gives you here
| Free source | How good it is |
|---|---|
| Section 82 of the Twenty-Eighth Edition | Definitive. Ten competencies and 57 skills, plus one competency and 11 skills for the essay. It's incorporated into the rule |
| Rule 6A-4.0021, F.A.C. | Definitive on fees, the 30-day retake wait, the essay passing total of 6, and the alternative-score route |
| FTCE Test Structure Information | Definitive on 30, 30 and 35 questions, on 40, 55 and 100 minutes, and on the calculator and reference sheet |
| The Maximum Percentages table | Definitive on what a scaled 200 is worth per subtest |
| Scattered free practice questions | Variable. Rarely weighted, rarely timed, and usually without reading passages |
Four of those five are better than anything a publisher sells, because they're the source the publishers are paraphrasing. That's unusual. For most examinations the awarding body publishes a two-page outline and everything else is guesswork.
Where the free material stops
It stops at the last row of that table. The state tells you exactly what you can be asked and exactly how long you have. It does not give you 30 questions in 40 minutes on a Tuesday evening, and it does not tell you that you'd have failed.
- Weighting. Free questions cluster wherever they're easy to write. Mathematics is 35 of the 95 multiple-choice questions and gets far more than its share of free material, while English Language Skills conventions gets far less
- A clock. English Language Skills gives you 1.33 minutes a question against Mathematics at 2.86, a figure we derived by dividing the published minutes by the published counts. You only feel that difference under time
- Reading passages. Almost no free set has them, and all 30 Reading questions sit under text selections
- A verdict. Free material can't tell you that you're ready, and the published cut is a moving target: the percentages are maximums, so a harder version of a subtest may need slightly fewer correct
The free thing nobody uses
Rule 6A-4.0021(12). Qualifying GRE, SAT, ACT or CLT scores satisfy the general knowledge requirement subtest by subtest, and an SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing score of 560 covers three of the four. It costs nothing to check your old score report, and the full alternative-score table lists every score the rule accepts.
This is the highest-value free thing on the internet about this examination, and it's the one that argues hardest against buying anything from us.
When paid is genuinely the right call
Three situations, and they're specific.
- You've failed a subtest. The retake is USD 32.50 and you can't sit it for 30 days, so you have a month and a known target. Buying diagnosis at that point is a rational use of a wait you can't avoid
- Your Mathematics is genuinely rusty. 100 minutes and 35 questions across number sense, geometry, algebra and statistics is a lot to rebuild from a free question set with no explanations
- You cannot make yourself start. This is the honest reason most people buy anything, and there's nothing wrong with paying for a structure that gets you through the door
The full battery is USD 130 and a single retake is USD 32.50. Published data shows 37.2% of candidates retake at least one subtest, and the average candidate generates 3.38 subtest sittings. If a paid product moves you out of that 37.2% it has paid for a fraction of itself in fees alone, and the rest of its value is the month you didn't spend waiting.
What we charge, and what it doesn't cover
USD 79 for 12 months: 950 questions, 60 reading passages, 78 lesson blocks, 124 learn checks and 5 mock forms of 95 questions. Refundable in full for 7 days while you've used no more than a fifth of it.
It does not mark essays. Ours is one of the products that teaches the essay subtest and scores none of it, and some paid competitors do give you a human reader. On the subtest with the lowest published first-attempt pass rate, that's a real difference and we'd rather you heard it from us.
We're not quoting anyone else's price on this page. We haven't checked them against a live checkout, and a number we invented would be worse than the sentence you just read.
Common questions
Can I pass the FTCE General Knowledge Test using only free material?
Yes, if you're disciplined. The syllabus is Section 82 of the Twenty-Eighth Edition, incorporated into Rule 6A-4.0021 and published free, along with question counts, minutes and the pass marks. What free material won't give you is timed full-length practice or a readiness verdict.
What free FTCE material is actually authoritative?
Rule 6A-4.0021, Section 82 of the Twenty-Eighth Edition, the FTCE Test Structure document and the Maximum Percentages table. All four come from the Florida Department of Education, and every commercial guide is a paraphrase of them.
Is paid FTCE prep worth it?
It's worth it if you've failed a subtest and have a 30-day wait to use, if your Mathematics needs rebuilding, or if you can't start alone. It's poor value if you're already scoring well on timed practice.
What does free practice usually get wrong?
Weighting and passages. Free questions drift toward Mathematics because math items are quick to write, and almost no free set includes reading passages, which all 30 Reading questions depend on.
Is there a free way to skip the test entirely?
Sometimes. Rule 6A-4.0021(12) accepts qualifying GRE, SAT, ACT or CLT scores subtest by subtest, and an SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing score of 560 covers three of the four. Checking your old score report costs nothing.